Cape Breton Ski Club directors stave off challenge for now

The board of directors for the Cape Breton Ski Club blocked a non-confidence motion at their annual general meeting on Thursday, but members plan to introduce another motion in the near future.

More than 100 members attended the meeting on Thursday, where some had proposed voting on a non-confidence motion over the ski club's failed court bid to stop the sale of the golf course next door.

Peter Trask, a former vice-president of the board who resigned earlier this year over the lawsuit, said many members just wanted answers.

"At the meeting last night, it was obvious there's not a whole lot of transparency," he said.

"It's fairly secretive. There's been very, very little communication from the board regarding this direction that they chose, and even since they lost."

Last month, a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge rejected the ski club's request for an injunction on the sale of The Lakes at Ben Eoin Golf Course.

The ski hill had hoped to make its own offer to purchase the financially failing golf operation.

Until this year, the two sports facilities shared a parking lot, clubhouse and food service.

Now, the golf course has been purchased by a consortium of businessmen called Ben Eoin Developments.

The company also owns The Birches at Ben Eoin on the other side of the ski hill and it plans to send golfers to the hotel's kitchen and dining facilities.

The ski club is on the hook for its own legal costs from the failed bid to stop the sale and will find out next month how much it owes the golf course and its new owners for their court costs.

Motion not allowed at AGM

Trask said some members tried to get a motion of non-confidence in the board onto the AGM agenda on Thursday, but the chair wouldn't allow it.

The board also refused to discuss its past decisions or what those might mean for the club, he said.

"There's still no direction," said Trask. "There's no direction, no discussion.

"We're sort of in the dark and it would be really nice for the membership to know what is happening."

Trask said the members will draw up a special motion of non-confidence that will be brought back to a regular board meeting in the near future.

CBC News called several current ski club board members, but none was available for comment.

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